Observations on the Specific Part of the Heterogenetic Antigen

The following are some preliminary results of studies on the heterogenetic antigen. It is known that the specific part of the antigen can be extracted with alcohol from the organs of various animals. The chemical nature of this substance has been studied by Kurt Meyer (1), and by Wernicke and Sordelli (2). Kurt Meyer regarded the active substance as one of the group of unsaturated phosphatides (lecithin, cephalin), whereas Wernicke and Sordelli considered it a cerebroside. In a recent communication, however, Sordelli, Wernicke and Deulafeu (3) report that after purifications with pyridine and afterwards with diluted acetone, the fractions correponding to the cerebrosides—phrenosine and cerasine—were the less active ones. In connection with these contentions, two facts are of interest. These are: In the first place the generally weaker content in heterogenetic substance of the white substance of the brain, as compared with the content of several other organs (4, 5), and second, the failure of the pure cerobrosides phrenosine and cerasine and of pure sphyngomyelin to react with Forssman’s heterogenetic antibodies in the same manner as the active extracts. The cerebrosides and sphyngomyelin employed in these experiments were prepared from ox-brain. The tests were made as in our other experiments by the method of complement-fixation using as antibodies sheep hemolysin obtained by injections of horse kidney.